OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) -- Heady with their successful attempts to block trucks and curb business at busy ports up and down the West Coast, some Occupy Wall Street protesters plan to continue their blockades and keep staging similar protests despite requests to stop because they're hurting wage earners.

PHILADELPHIA (AP) -- Convicted cop-killer Mumia Abu-Jamal said Monday that he was surprised and somewhat disappointed that he did not get a new sentencing hearing in the racially charged murder case that had kept him on death row for nearly 30 years.

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) -- Two Florida A&M University students appeared in court Tuesday and said they plan to fight charges that they beat a fellow member of the famed Marching 100 band so hard during a hazing ritual that she was left with a broken thigh.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Supreme Court agreed Monday to rule on Arizona's controversial law targeting illegal immigrants, setting the stage for an election-year decision on an issue that is already shaping presidential politics.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The U.S. is reaching out to Muslim countries angry about Western characterizations of Islam by bringing together representatives from more than two dozen governments this week to address religious intolerance.

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- David Frias works two minimum-wage jobs to squeak by in one of the most expensive cities in America.

Grimmer didn't have a job, and the state had denied the family food stamps and emergency help despite repeated requests. Tragic shootings sometimes come without warning, but interviews with family members and neighbors show there were many signs of frustration before Grimmer entered a state welfare building with a .38-caliber handgun earlier this week and shot herself and her children after a seven-hour standoff.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Newt Gingrich's rapid rise in presidential polls has left veteran Republicans scratching their heads, and not just because he vaulted from far back to lead Mitt Romney in several key states.

SAN ANTONIO (AP) -- Breast cancer experts are cheering what could be some of the biggest advances in more than a decade: two new medicines that significantly delay the time until women with very advanced cases get worse.

ST. LOUIS (AP) -- The U.S. government barely changed its estimate for next year's corn surplus, which is expected to stay small and keep high food prices high.